“ Bajal, I know you’re not human, but a beast. You are a beast in the form of a human. Satan’s emissary!” he clamored.
Bajal groaned while his grip on his sword. He stared at Kadziel as his eyes were sharp and reddened. He flaunted a beastly grinned “ He-he, how did you know that? ”
“ You will not escape the fury of my sword. It’s your end now Bajal!”
Intense struggle went on. While hostility was at its fury, lighted arrows hit the light material of the old edifice. Fire sparked and began to creep speedily into the rooms . Kadziel disappeared from the sight of Bajal to save Moraiza and his son in the burning room. He broke into the glass windows of the room and got them out.
In his confusion Bajal turned his fury to his foes. Kadziel took Moraiza and his son to a safe tenement with all others who took refuge for safety.
He went back to the battle field where burning houses were driving out its settlers for safety. His men over powered them prompting Bajal and his cohorts to retreat to the woods.
“ What shall we do now your majesty?” ask a soldier
“ We will pursue them until the day breaks wherever they go!” Kadziel exclaimed.
“ Get more men and ask for reinforcements. Tell them to get ready when the day breaks”
“ Your wish is my command, Sir” a soldier replied.
Kadziel returned to the tenement while his command was to the rescue to the wounded . Others were trying to put off the fire on their blazing houses.
“ I did not get him” he moaned
“ Let them go. They will be put into a snare. They are nowhere to go.” Moraiza said.
“ No, He is a beast and no longer human. Only my sword could kill him” he said.
“ You will be in danger when you run after them. He is so powerful as a beast and he could only be slain in the dark. The time when he turns into a monster.” she sighed.
“ That’s why I will resume the pursuit so I can slay him in the day time ” he added.
“ It would be difficult for you to locate them during the day for they hide in the wilderness of the woods.”
“ We will scour the woods just to kill him or we get killed when he comes back at night”
Moraiza kept silent as he looked and embraced their three year old son. Kadziel came nearer and hugged them.
“ I am scared” she whispered.
“ No. He will not get you. Over my dead body” Kadziel whispered.
When the day broke Kadziel and his command marched to the path where Bajal could have trod. Passing through the woods and wilderness they would encamp and scour them.
But they would be vigilant and alert in the night where Bajal could be more powerful. Kadziel believed that Bajal’s cohorts were already less in number when most of them perished in the battle.
Meantime, Attila and the Huns started their bloody attack against Rome. They burned villages and houses. Inhabitants ran for their lives while the Italian army struggled to drive them away. Attila turned to Basilica and attempted to destroy it. But the outpouring of reinforcements by the Italian troops focused their military build up to shield the Basilica from imminent destruction. Kadziel and his command marched to Paris where they believed Bajal and his cohorts headed.
“ We have found traces of the lost command. But there was no indication that Bajal was leading them.” said his Chief of Staff.
“ Where could Bajal be ?” Kadziel asked.
“ I guess he is making a trick on us.”
“ What do you mean your majesty?”
“ He is misleading us. I have a deep feeling that he went back for my family.”
“ Stay foot commander. I will get back .”
Kadziel with his two men immediately drove back alone to ascertain his family’s safety. After a day’s journey they reached the entry point in Strasbourg. They slowed down upon reaching the tenement where Moraiza and his son were under guardianship by their servants.
“ I will bring them with me.” He sighed.
“ It looks like nobody was around” said his soldier.
They went off their horses and walked slowly to the door. Kadziel knocked a number of times.
“ Anybody home?!”
“ Nobody is home really” said the soldier.
They forced the door open and found the wounded bodies of their servants lying on the floor. They ransacked the house.
“ Moraiza! Raphael! Where are you?!” Kadziel yelled.
He saw the wounded servant and asked him. “ Where are they?”
“ They are gone your majesty. They were taken by a savage man” the servant replied.
“ Where ?!”
The wounded man closed his eyes.
“ Let’s find them !” Kadziel exclaimed.
“ Where to your majesty?”
“ To the woods!”
Soon they quickly drove as fast as they could to the woods where Kadziel thought of the mostly likely place Bajal would hide.
Kadziel was right. Somewhere in an uninhabited house in the middle of the woods Bajal held Moraiza and his son captives.
Bajal with Siegfied and three cohorts assisted him and were look-out for any threats of approaching enemy.
“You should have been my woman, Lady Moraiza had it not for Kadziel’s aggressive action” he whispered to Moraiza while keeping her son with her arms.
“ No. You’re crazy and a devil’s advocate!” she exclaimed.
Like a nasty man Bajal would flaunt his great desire for Moraiza.
“ You just did not know my good plans for you. You must realize that I can give whatever material things you ask for. I have the treasures, kingdom and power. We will expand our kingdom throughout Europe. I will get the dominion of all other kingdoms for you”
“ It will not happen because I already have a kingdom and I am happy with Kadziel and my son!” she exclaimed.
“ Now that you are with me it may not be too late to bear my son”
He dragged Moraiza to adjacent room and shoved her while her son was left behind. Moraiza struggled to escape but she was overpowered.
Kadziel had reached the woods and heard the clamor for help from Moraiza. They came nearer but they were prevented by the armed men of Bajal who started to fight Kadziel and his men.
Bajal was disturbed and ran to the window.
“ What was that turmoil ?”
“ They have come!” shouted one of his men.
The raging fight went on. Bajal got his sword and rushed outside leaving Moraiza and her son in the room. Moraiza tried to look through the window to see Kadziel.
“ This is now your time Bajal ! I will get you!” Kadziel shouted.
Siegfried and his men were already killed prompting the two men of Kadziel to get into the room to take Moraiza and her son.
While Kadziel and Bajal were struggling with each other Bajal started to transform.
His eyes were getting sharper and reddened. His arms and legs were beginning to stretch and hair emerged and grew rapidly.
Kadziel upon seeing Bajal’s transformation drew out his sword and wielded it to him. But Bajal was so fast that he evaded the blade.
He groaned and became fierce. He rushed to the house and Kadziel chased him.
“ Moraiza ! Moraiza! Hide yourselves, he is on your way!” he yelled.
They were able to lock the wooden door. But it was so light that Bajal broke in quickly. Bajal broke into the room but did not find them.
He did not know that they went out to the back door. Swiftly as he could Kadziel followed through and confronted the beast.
Moraiza and her son were taken by Kadziel’s men near the rocky mountain not too far from the house. The bright light of the moon led them their path to safety.
They hid them between the rocks that were near the cliff.
“ Stay here your majesty, you and your son will be safe here. Just wait for us. We will get back to you.” the soldier said.
They went back to the house a
s fast as they could to assist Kadziel.
Back in the house, Kadziel got a chance to inflict a wound on Bajal’s right arm that made the beast even more ferocious.
Bajal’s appearance would change interchangeably into human and a beast while bleeding. He kept struggling to avoid the sharp-shiny blade of Kadziel.
The beast leapt outside to avoid being harmed further. Kadziel ran after him. Along the way the bewildered beast met Kadziel’s men.
“ The beast ! Take cover.”
“ He’s heading to the rocks!
“ Chase him ! Don’t let him escape!” Kadziel shouted.
Bajal reached the rocks. At that moment, Moraiza and her son was in between big rocks not knowing that the bleeding Bajal had reached the area. Moraiza heard the groaning Bajal. She tried to extend her head in between the edge of the rocks . She was shocked and scared when he saw him approaching their way.
“ Come Raphael, the beast is coming”
Bajal saw them came out of the rocks and followed them. They reached the edge of the cliff. Bajal slowly transformed into human and like an exhausted man he warned them.
“ Where are you going? Don’t proceed or both of you will plunge to death”
“ No. You can’t take us ! ” Moraiza
Moraiza and her son stopped and faced the approaching Bajal. A few more steps forward and any wrong move would pull them to death.
Moraiza held her son tightly. On that situation Kadziel and his men were waiting for a chance while Bajal slowly moved forward to Moraiza.
Kadziel raised his sword and with all his might and precision, he cast it on the back of Bajal.
The sword landed on his back through his heart. Moraiza and her son upon seeing Bajal being driven by the speed of the sword stepped away giving Bajal the free passage to plunge to his death.
Again, the dark spirit took the spirits of Bajal’s men down the prison cell under the earth.
Likewise, the spirit of Bajal when being taken by the dark spirit down the earth was struggling as if he did not want to be imprisoned yet.
“ No! No! It’s not my time yet!” he shouted.
“ Yes, it’s your time already. Your body has been seriously damaged. And this is your destination” said the prison Master.
Kadziel hugged Moraiza and his son.
“ Are you okay ?” asked Kadziel.
“ Yes, but….” Moraiza cried.
“ Are you okay, son?”
“ Yes, Father.”
When the day broke they all went back to Strasbourg. The remaining members of the lost command of Bajal were encountered by Kadziel’s troops on their way to Strasbourg.
They were overpowered and all perished by the joint forces of the kingdom’s royal troops and the military reinforcements.
Meantime, in Italy, the raging war between Attila and the Italian regiments slowed down when Attila and his troops were over powered by the advancing regiments.
Attila were driven out to the border of Italy and settled there to re-charge. They did not claim it was a defeat nor a retreat from the advancing forces of the Italian regiments.
The St. Peter’s Basilica was fractionally damaged during the attack. There were casualties on both sides, however, government properties were mostly burned down to rubbles.
Attila established his camp and took some time to ponder on the next plan for their conquest. They celebrated and enjoyed the merriment.
While in the midst of their jubilation Attila untimely succumbed to death that shocked and frustrated the expectations of his people.
His death spoiled their next adventure in the European lands that caused his men to be dispersed and went back home to Mongolia thus, it ended the Huns attempted conquests in several parts of Europe during the Middle Ages.
Italy slowly rebuilt its ruins, introduced new arts and science, poetry and songs, architectural design for the next generation of youths and started to enter into a new era in history known as the Renaissance Period. In France, King Louis, the Defender and his Queen Moraiza stayed for sometime in Strasbourg where the seat of sovereign government was established.
Moraiza confessed to Kadziel that she was bearing a child of Bajal which became visible after a few months.
She was so depressed and hated to bear the child that she almost took her life to finish her agony but was prevented by Kadziel. They learned to live by the reality of her circumstance.
On the ninth month, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy. At that time, Raphael was already twelve years old and had the most care and nourishment of his parents.
The baby boy was named, Lucien. Kadziel and Moraiza realized that the boy had nothing to do with the past events that transpired as they treated him as their own. Raphael loved Lucien and treated him as a younger brother.
When the ruined kingdom in Paris had been rebuilt they began to move out of Strasbourg to re-settle and establish their new sovereign government of France in Paris.
Raphael was taught and trained in the ways of a king. Likewise, his younger brother Lucien was also being taught in the same way as he pleased. However, Lucien had a different character. He was soft-spoken, diffident, pensive and active.
Being the next successor to the throne of France, Raphael was being trained and educated to become a great warrior King, like his own father.
When Raphael was sixteen years old, he was crowned Prince by Cardinal Francois Bogart, who was later known to be Pope Francis whose papacy was established in Avignon, France.
At seventeen, Raphael had been in the battle fields and won several of them. He was greatly acknowledged to be a gallant warrior king of France at that time.
When Kadziel and Moraiza realized that Lucien was already of age they did not hesitate to tell about his personal identity.
However, they did not know how they would explain everything to him without hurting his feelings.
But it was inevitable to say untrue lines in their narration to avoid disheartening his feelings but to bring him up in the positive memory of his past.
“ Your father was also a warrior king and a priest but was unfortunately killed in the battle.” Moraiza recalled.
“ But why was my age gap with my brother so near when my father was your partner at that time he died?” Lucien inquisitively asked.
“ Because at that time I thought your brother’s father king was already dead when he went to war and had never been back years after when your father had me.” Moraiza insinuated.
“ Was he a good priest?”
“ Yes he was. He became a Cardinal and later a Pope”
“ Really? He was great. I hope I would be like him too.” Lucien said.
Moraiza paused for a moment and looked at him. She jiggled his cheeks.
“ No. You have a different journey. You may not have the same fate”
“ But why? Don’t you like him being great? He was a warrior King and a Pope.”
“ No. I mean to say, you will not die soon in the same way he died.”
“ Yes. I don’t want to die soon fighting in the battlefields because I wish to be in the church only” he said.
“ Yes. You should stay indoors only.” Moraiza said as she hugged him.
10
The sword that killed Bajal was recovered and was embedded into Bajal’s carcass below the rocky cliff. The sword was brought back to Kadziel and deposited into its casket for preservation. Moraiza had a difficult labor as she struggled for life to deliver the boy who she named, Lucien. Lucien as a boy was noticed to have a strange feature in his personality. He was smart, active, uniquely intelligent, but at times nasty. He was apparently an eye-catching feature of possessing charismatic sharp look
In one occasion, Raphael and Lucien shared fun moments in the prairie. They both shared a horse -back riding when the horse went wild. The horse ran in incredible speed when Raphael lost his hold on Lucien. He lost his balance and clung on the saddle dropping his body on the side of the speeding horse while Lucien was
on the saddle he pulled the bridle that was controlling the horse. At an amazing speed, Lucien slowed down the horse as Raphael struggled to pull himself back on the saddle. He was astonished by the strength that Lucien showed with that incident.
Likewise, both of them had shared time to practice fencing and archery. Lucien’s skills were mostly displayed a precision and determined perception. This superb exhibition of applauding character caught the perception of Raphael’s adornment of his distinction.
“ Something great is in you “ he said.
“ I was not aware that I could do it” Lucien replied.
In his pensive moments, Lucien would feel a bizarre atmosphere of a dwelling spirit. At times, it appeared to be a sudden blow of the wind. It would move him to signify something with a surprise and in some occasion it would whisper audibly to his ears. Something his Mom would call him up in his contemplation.
“ Are you alright, Lucien ?” Queen Moraiza would ask.
“ Yes, mother “ he would reply.
“ What keeps you having a deep thought ?” she would ask.
“ Nothing. I was just resting my mind” he would say.
Lucien would feel he was not alone but it did not scare nor give him a thought of fear but would rather enjoy the perception of a quirky occurrences before his sight.As Lucien grew the manifestation of piety was reflected in his conduct and behavior that Moraiza thought he was destined to become a priest. In the absence of Raphael whose presence was strictly demanded by his commitment as a young King, Queen Moraiza would personally witness how Lucien did his daily routine. However, as she discerned Lucien’s flaunted behavior she would be astonished by some weird occurrences hovering her son that hinted her of the presence of Bajal’s spirit. It came to pass and thought that those things would not make any sense at all.
War of the Holies Page 7